The City of Dallas saw a 7% increase in crime across the board for January 2022 when compared to January 2021. While the categories of Motor Vehicle Theft (which accounted for 26% of all crimes for January of this year), Destruction/Damage/Vandalism of Property, Counterfeiting/Forgery, and Arson all increased when comparing one January to the next, a major cause for concern was the jump in Homicide Offenses.
There were thirteen total homicides in January 2022, nearly doubling the seven total seen during the same month in 2021.
According to statistics from the Violent Crime Reduction Plan, implemented by the Dallas Police Department, violent crime in Dallas increased by 19% from 2018 to 2020. (Figure 1 below.)
A similar pattern emerges when looking at typical indicators of street violence. Murders, non-negligent manslaughters, robberies, and aggravated assaults increased by 22% in the same period. (See figure.)
Overall Violent Crime Trends in Dallas from 2018-2020. Image by the Dallas Police Department.
The Dallas Violent Crime Reduction Plan was created as part of an effort to combat this rise.
According to the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) the plan is a collaboration between criminology and criminal justice professors Michael Smith and Rob Tillyer of the UTSA College for Health Community and Policy.
The comprehensive approach includes evidence-based short-, mid-, and long-term strategies to reduce crime in Dallas’s most violent neighborhoods and in the city overall.
Statistics shared in the plan show that violent crime is localized to specific locations within Dallas.
“In Dallas, as in most cities, violent crime is geographically concentrated in a relatively small number of areas within the City,” the Violent Crime Reduction Plan states.
To determine this, “DPD’s seven patrol divisions are divided into 225 beats. For reporting and analysis purposes, beats are further disaggregated into 1,156 small reporting areas (RAs) and even smaller 330’ x 330’ grid squares. An examination of violent crime at the RA level reveals that that roughly 10% percent of Dallas’ violent crime occurs within only 14 (or 1%) [of] RAs.”
On March 2, UTSA reported that violent crime overall in Dallas was 14.5% lower in 2021 than in 2020. The university attributed the drop to the Crime Reduction Plan.
However, Dallas saw an 85.7% increase in Homicide Offenses when comparing January of 2021 to January of this year.
Though Jaynie Schultz is The Dallas Express’ Crime Boss for February, her district was not among those that saw a rise in murder cases. However, we felt it was important to highlight a district that really stood out in this category — and not in a good way.
Of the thirteen homicides reported for January 2022, District 6’s boundaries encompassed four of them, meaning nearly 31% of all reported Dallas murders took place there.
District 6 is led by Councilman Omar Narvaez, who was elected to the Dallas City Council in June of 2017, per the City of Dallas website.
The Dallas Express reached out to Narvaez and his office for comment but had not received a response by the time of press.